Suicide in Cleveland County Jail!!! –County Citizens Surrender to War on Drugs!!! —Report by Robert A Williams

Reliable sources have informed me that Chris Cody, around 31 years old, white, male, red hair, about 5’5″ slender but muscular build has committed suicide in the Cleveland County Jail. Cody was reported to be found hanged in his cell. Cody was reportedly taken to a hospital in Charlotte and put on life support. As of the report Cody is brain dead and will likely be taken off life support tomorrow.

Cody was reportedly in jail for possession of prescription pain pills. Prescription Pain Medications have been identified by law enforcement as probably the most widely used and abused drug in today’s society, affecting both the legal users who become addicted as well as those who purchase the meds on the thriving black market here in Cleveland County and all across the nation.

Chris Cody was known to be a likeable, smart and friendly person who became exposed to use as an early teenager. Cody’s first encounter with law enforcement began when Cody got high on Crystal Meth or some other fashion drug at the time, was out with some friends at either K-Mart or Wal-Mart, when Cody foolishly snatched an elderly woman’s purse inside the store and ran with the purse. The woman’s screams as well as Chris Cody running through the store caused Cody to be tackled by a bystander and turned over to the law. I am sure most folks over 40 in Cleveland County remember that story.

This episode was the first of Cody’s many involvements with law enforcement related to drug trafficking and his own personal use. Cody spent time in jail as well as in prison because of his involvement with drugs.

All the drug-use/abuse treatment/rehab programs Chris Cody was required to take over the span of half his life obviously did not work for Chris Cody, or did not work for very long. Cody’s drug abuse based criminal record prevented him from finding a steady job. And, if he did find a steady job he didn’t last very long.

This situation drove Cody to sell drugs to support himself as well as provide him with a much too available drug supply for his own use. Cody was once reported to tell a friend that he made $55,000 per year selling prescription pain medications.

Cody was also reported to tell a friend once that he would rather die than go back to prison. Apparently Chris Cody figured he was prison bound from his recent arrest and took the matter into his own hands this past week while in the Cleveland County Jail.

So, what can citizens of Cleveland County take away from this tragic loss of a young life? Let’s name a few:
Drug rehab programs in Cleveland County are not very effective and they are not free. But the Judges keep on ordering drug users who get caught to take and pay for these programs. I am not aware of any effort by the Judicial System in Cleveland County to measure the effectiveness of these programs, root out the ineffective programs or do anything to improve the effectiveness of any of these programs. These programs certainly appear to be just another way to fleece money from drug users that actually need help with their problems and funnel that money to those who have figured out ways to scam the system. Same with the alcohol rehab programs. Same with anger management programs.

Drugs of all kind are readily available all over Cleveland County.
Prescription Drugs are probably the number one drug that is abused, so who writes these prescriptions. None (for the most part) of those prescription writers, Doctors, are arrested for over prescribing those drugs. The only Doctor I recall getting arrested for such was Dr. Skorman, the foot doctor.
Food Stamps are widely used with impunity in Cleveland County to buy drugs. Around 25,000 people in Cleveland County are on Food Stamps, Many recipients are known to sell or otherwise use Food Stamps to purchase drugs. Some are reported to DSS, but ZERO are prosecuted.
Food Stamps are the currency of choice in the drug trade. When Food Stamps were actually paper “stamps” a perfect situation for the drug trade was this. A $100 Food Stamp was given to a drug dealer for a $25 rock of crack cocaine. The Food Stamp recipient didn’t care because the recipient had no work involved with getting the Food Stamp. The drug dealer would take the $100 Food Stamp to a “fence” who worked at a food store, maybe even the owner, and sell the $100 Food Stamp for $50-doubling his money on the sale of that rock of crack cocaine. Then the store employee would put the $100 Food Stamp in the store cash register and take another $50 dollars in cash out of the register and put the cash money into his pocket. The store employee had taken $50 out of the cash register to pay the drug dealer, another $50 out to pay himself and put the $100 Food Stamp into the cash register. The cash register balanced out perfectly. A perfect crime had just taken place with an almost ZERO chance to get caught.
Now, Food Stamps are given out each month as prepaid charge cards. Supposedly, according to DSS, this is foolproof against such a crime as noted above. But the Devil is always in the details. The Food Stamp Program is scammed just as much, children are not fed just as much, drug dealers and others make just as much and maybe more. It works like this. Say the recipient gets $1,000 a month in Food Stamps. She, it’s usually a she-a single mother with four or five children, gets her monthly card with $1,500 credit on it. She gets or sets her password. She goes to a store and buys $250 in groceries. That leaves $1,250. She sells her card and password for $800. The store employee resets the password and runs the card through several times per month to get the full $1,250 run through the cash register and takes out his cut in cash each month to the amount of $550. The cash register balances. The recipient who just sold her card and password for $800 cash pays another recipient $800 in cash for her $1,500 Food Stamp card and password.. The second recipient has $800 in cash to run through her own drug dealer. The first recipient has a full $1,500 Food Stamp credit card that she can recycle all over again. Some of the smarter Food Stamp card recipients get into the drug dealing business themselves and have only $400 or so in the drugs they value at $800 to another recipient for the $1,500 on the Food Stamp Card. This goes on and on. But in the end all the money on the Food Stamp cards is run through the DSS accounts and the drug dealers and store employees have made a killing. DSS records indicate Food Stamp recipients receive $3 million per month on these cards. That’s a lot of opportunity for mischief. DSS records also indicate out of the Food Stamp fraud cases that they receive, ZERO are prosecuted.

So, in the wind-up of the suicide death of Chris Cody in the Cleveland County Jail, about the only thing that is likely to happen is a possible lawsuit against Cleveland County where taxpayers pay the lawyer bills and any awards of negligence that might be found. Nobody, besides me, is likely to suggest that Cleveland County has surrendered in the so called “War On Drugs” we have been fighting for 40 or 50 years. And the drug dealers and money launderers, including those at the courthouse, just keep on smiling all the way to the bank.

What a shame all of this is. And 50,000 registered voters are likely to stay away from the ballot box on this off year 2017 General Election. Again, Shame on all of you. Perhaps the next person who commits suicide in the Cleveland County Jail will be YOUR child.